Jan Krause is facing jail after waging a five-year campaign of harassment against her neighbour

A woman who argued with her next-door neighbours launched a sinister five-year 'cold war' of surveillance against them.

Jan Krause, 44, videotaped the family and posted the recordings on
YouTube, crashed into their cars and erected a roof-mounted device
which emitted a high-pitched whine in their direction.

One Christmas morning, nurse Carol Story opened the curtains
to find Krause sitting outside dressed all in black and wearing a
balaclava while taking notes.

The campaign left 53-year-old Miss Story, a mother of three, upset and angry and she even put the family home on the market.

But she hopes her ordeal is over after Krause, a transsexual, was
convicted of harassment at Chester Magistrates' Court. She was remanded
on bail for sentence and banned from keeping cameras or recording
equipment.

The feud began after the Story family moved into a £500,000 detached
home in the picture-postcard Cheshire village of Hartford, near
Northwich.

Krause claimed a central heating system they installed was too noisy and security lighting was too bright.

When council officials refused to take action over the alleged
noisy central heating, Krause sent an email to them saying: 'As you
will be all too aware, due to your statutory refusal to accept the
noise I have complained about, my family home has been rendered
blighted and tantamount to a war zone. I am now on war footing.'

She placed obstacles on grass verges to stop visitors parking and
repeatedly bumped her car into other vehicles - one while Miss Story's
daughter was inside.

For several months Krause would blow a whistle or sound her car horn
every time she saw Miss Story - then lift up an earphone to suggest she
was listening in before scribbling in her notebook.

She recorded the family's comings and goings between 2004 and
2009, regularly taking pictures of them and keeping a diary of their
movements with more than 600 entries.

Battle zone: The leafy road in the village of Hartford where Krause began surveillance of her neighbours

She even called police, who sent armed officers to raid Miss
Story's house at 3am when her twins, Laura and Matthew, held a James
Bond-themed fancy dress party for their 18th birthday and were seen
playing with toy Walther PPK pistols.

Miss Story told the court: 'I felt totally intimidated in my own home and my whole life had been turned upside down.'

District Judge Nicolas Sanders said the family had been subjected to a bizarre and obsessive campaign by Krause.

'She has decided, for reasons that do not exist in the real
world, to take every opportunity to invade the privacy of Miss Story
and her family. The history suggests this is an obsession, causing
distress.'

Andrew McInnis, defending, said: 'In a sort of Heath Robinson
way, she undertook the documentation of what she perceived to be Miss
Story's inconsiderate behaviour.'

After the case Miss Story said: 'I'm just pleased with the verdict and want to put this behind me.'